Recently, Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya strongly objected to some chaupai of the Ramcharitmanas epic and questioned them. He had said that objectionable parts should be removed from it. After this, some people burnt copies of Ramcharitmanas in Lucknow, UP. The police had registered a case against 10 named and several unidentified people on this matter.
At the same time, social media users are referring to one of the accused In this case, Mohammad Salim, claiming that he is the mastermind.
Dr. Shalabh Mani Tripathi, former media advisor to CM Yogi and Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Deoria, captioned: “ Mohammed Salim turned out to be the mastermind of burning Shri Ramcharitmanas, arrested along with his colleagues, SP and Swami Prasad gave Salim the betel nut to burn Shri Ramcharitmanas!” ( English Translation)
Source: Twitter
Other social media users, including BJP leader Abhishek Tiwari, have also made the same claim.
Fact Check:
To know the reality of the viral claim, the DFRAC team conducted a Google search with the help of some keywords. We found reports published by several media houses in this regard.
On this incident, ABP News published news under the headline, “Ramcharitmanas Controversy: 5 accused arrested for burning copies of Ramcharitmanas, the video was viral”. According to the report, copies of Ramcharitmanas were allegedly burnt by members of an organization called Akhil Bharatiya OBC Mahasabha in the Vrindavan area of Lucknow. According to the police, a case was registered on Sunday against 10 named and several unidentified people on the complaint of BJP leader Satnam Singh Lavi.
Source: abplive
According to media reports, the police have not named Mohammad Salim as the mastermind or the main accused. Salim’s name is number 9 among the 10 accused against whom the names are registered in the FIR.
Source: Twitter
Conclusion:
It is clear from this fact check of DFRAC that out of the 10 accused in the burning of the copy of Ramcharitmanas, it is misleading to mention the name of Mohammad Salim and call him the mastermind.
